Canon EOS-1D Mark II
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| EOS 1D Mark II 14/11/2004 I've had this camera for about a month having upgraded from the 10D - that I have kept as a backup body. The quality of photographs is excellent - As I don't print larger that A4 I find that JPEG M1 setting enough. The JPEG is so good that the RAW facility (that involves a lot of work in Photoshop) is really unnecessary. The controls whilst different from the 10D are easy to use and intuitive. I use the second card SD to save and restore custom setups. The only gripe is that only one set up can be saved per card so it is necessary to buy several small capacity SD cards - but this is very cheap. The benefits of this are obvious where the camera is shared. The A1 servo mode has two speeds 4 fps & 8.5-the latter beinglike a machine gun!!! Great for sport. All in all a superb camera - well worth the money. By | ||||||
| Professional camera 26/07/2004 This is a professional camera with professional features. One of the most amazing features is the 8.5 frames per second capture speed. The resolution is magnificent, and detail excellent at speeds up to ISO800 or so, after that a little noise is noticable. I moved up from the EOS 10D (keeping this as my back-up camera), and the difference is instantly noticable in start-up speed, speed of general operation, review, write times on and on. Takes a bit of getting used to the slightly different menu operation after the 10D, but apart from that, it's quite familiar. One nice feature is the way you can put in two memory cards, either as a 'reserve tank' feature, or as a backup, writing to both cards simultaneously. Combine this camera with Canon's L series lenses for a truly amazing bit of kit. | ||||||
| Lightning Fast 13/09/2009 I purchased this camera used recently primarily because of the cameara's ability to take 1.4x teleconverters on longer slower lenses, lightning fast autofocusing capabilities, and super speedy 8.5 fps. Seeing as the 1D Mk III sells for a lot more, I decided to go for a used 1D Mk II. After 2 days of extensive shooting in the field, I am very happy with my purchase. Let me first say what I love about this camera. -45 autofocus points, selectable in nearly any possible combination. This is fantastic for getting your focus spot onto nearly any possible target. -8.5 fps. It's hard to fathom how fast this is unless you experience it in the field. 8.5 fps is amazing! -LIGHTNING fast AF. AF on this camera, especially at center point, is extraordinarily fast and very accurate. -Responsive handling. The shutter button is very sensitive, which is great for making sure you get the shot you want when you want it. It does take some getting used to. -Permanent portrait grip. Shooting in portrait mode on my 40D without a grip was difficult and uncomfortable. With the 1D Mk II, it's very easy and comfortable. -Decent performance at f/8 center point focus. One of the big selling points of the 1D bodies is the ability to autofocus using center point with a lens like the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 with the 1.4x teleconverter. Autofocus is not fast by any means with this combination, but in good light, it is accurate and is very useful for getting close to non-moving subjects from a distance without breaking your bank. -Weathersealing. As someone who shoots outdoors 2 days all day every week, weathersealing is a nice bonus. It takes a lot of the worry about taking this camera outdoors in rough situations away. -3 stops of exposure compensation. I wish Canon put this on all their DSLRs instead of just 2 stops of exposure compensation! -2 button menu. At first, I was somewhat annoyed with the 1D Mk II's user interface, mainly that it requires at least two button pushes to change any setting (with exception of the main wheel just above the shutter button). I soon realized that this is because the 1D Mk II is designed so that accidental button pushes don't change your settings unintentionally. Once gotten used to, this is a great feature for button-pushing prone people like myself. -8.2 megapixels. Others may disagree, but 8.2 megapixels is quite enough for most photographic work and for printing even relatively large shots. Stuffing more megapixels on a sensor also tends to degrade overall apparent image sharpness. The 1D Mk II does a fine job of making the most of the sharpness quality and color contrast of any lens that is attached to it. What I don't like about the 1D Mk II: -Small dim LCD. The LCD on this camera is very small and not bright enough. The 1D Mk II N and 1D Mk III each have much larger and better LCD screens. -Weight. This camera is HEAVY. I've nicknamed mine "the brick." It will wear your arms out until you get used to it. You should consider buying a padded neckstrap for this camera. -Battery life under high speed shooting. The battery drains fairly quickly when shooting in high speed burst mode. You can still get about 850 shots on one battery while shooting in high speed burst mode. In one shot mode, it comes to just about 1100 shots. Low speed burst is somewhere between. -1.3 crop factor. I really wish this were a 1.6 crop factor sensor. I miss the extra apparent reach of the 40D over this camera since I mostly shoot at longer telephoto lengths. -Default settings. The default settings are somewhat odd on this camera. You have to set a custom function to display the ISO on the top screen, something I'm sure nearly every photographer pays attention to with each shot! Default file format is low quality .jpeg also! EEK! -So so high ISO performance. When shooting in a controlled environment, the ISO quality at ISO 800+ was acceptable. After shooting in the field, ISO 800 is fairly noisy. This noise can be easily removed in Photoshop or an analogous RAW image editing software package, but if possible, should be avoided on this camera. All in all, this camera is nothing short of a very fine piece of equipment. Even many years after it's release, the 1D Mk II is still a wonderful and powerful DSLR and offers a lot of wonderful features that are only now coming available to lower end Canon cameras. By E. Martin Miami, FL USA | ||||||
| This Looks Great! 24/09/2005 This camera looks amazing, not that I will ever have the money for it. I am impressed that this camera was the choice to shoot a feature film! It was used to shoot Tim Burton's Corpse Bride! By Christopher Beaumont NY | ||||||
| Best (compromise for an) Exploration Camera 22/03/2005 I had been waiting 3 years for any manufacturer to market a camera similar in specification to the Canon EOS1. As exploration Health, Safety & Environment advisor, work takes me to middle of the desert or the oceans. The wait was for 35mm film quality, with speed of picture taking (5 frames per second is barely enough to capture dolphins - hence the 8 + fps of the EOS 1 was desired). There was a parallel wait for an Image Stabilised 28-300 zoom lens. Let's cut the story short. If I want a camera to bring on holiday, it would not be this one - the battery and charger are too heavy and bulky; instead I would choose the EOS20D without hesitation. But having hundreds of failed 35mm film frames I decided not to wait any longer but to buy the EOS1D Mark II because the 1Ds Mark II is not fast enough at 4 frames a second. With 35mm cameras, after a few seconds on the shooting, I would have to run back inside to the cabin (of a ship) to change film. If there is large enough memory card in the EOS1DII, there is no need. This camera is built with seals against the environment (and so does the 28-300mm lens). Instead of being scared of running out of film, now it is easy to keep the shutter button pressed while panning (and hoping) the dolphins do their jumps into the air. With the 28-300mm lens attached, there is no need to change lenses either. Dolphins riding the bow wave of the ship could be captured at 28mm while those further away could be caught with 300mm setting. It is a disappointment that the battery is not LiOn but the older NiMH. But as with any photo gear requiring a battery it is wise to have a spare, whatever the substance. I just wish Canon package a small travel size charger instead of the standard one which is very bulky. It has connections for two batteries (yet it could only charge one following the other) but most people would be happy using one battery while the other one is being charged. You just try to convince some airport officials to let you on the plane with the above kit, binoculars, laptop, mobile phone, GPS.......ext. hard disk....as hand luggage. For work, I am committed and therefore bear the weight and troubles of hauling the hardware. But for holidays, I would choose the EOS20D with built-in flash because who would want to lug around 3 kilos all day plus flash gun and possibly a tripod? The camera gets 4.5 stars but the battery and charger lets it down. Why just 4.5 stars ? One of the beauties I had thought with digital SLR was not having to do anything in processing, just transfer the images to the computer. Wrong. The .jpg straight out of the camera is not sharp enough. Post processing is required. Why ? Why is that necessary when the Canon S60 (which I use for different assignments (with underwater housing)) doesn't need to ? That defeats the point of having a .jpg file at 5.5 Meg when the 1.5 Meg of the S60 looks sharper straight out of the camera ? Still, there is RAW if the standard output is not suficient. Incidentally, the EOS1DsII also produces 5.5 Meg .jpg and those also require post processing. For those of us who are not interested in working longer than necessary (me) 16.7 Million Pixels would seem a bit wasted. I am still waiting for the camera which produces sharp .jpg files in-camera without having to post process, and can shoot at 8+ fps with a sensor size equivalent to 35mm film. Meantime I shall have to learn to shoot with RAW files and post process. Also incidentally, the sensor size of the EOS20D is smaller, which means although itself is lighter than the EOS1D series camera, having to carry around an extrawide lens is not my idea of fun on holiday. The magnification ratio for the EOS1DII is 1.3 whereas the EOS20D is 1.6. This means I could still travel reasonably light (compromise) with the 1DII and 28-135mm IS lens attached. Sure it is possible to use stitching but that is more time spent at the computer and time is precious. Any regrets ? None what-so-ever. It is state of the technology at the moment. Another benefit of using digital is that, it doesn't matter if you had been shooting ISO 100 all day. come the night if you want to shoot the rig with a moon as backdrop, just change to ISO 1600 without having to bother about "pushing2 the film in developing. It's a beauty when an IS L lens is attached. You'd need IS when there is machinery vibrations and the ship is moving with the swell ! Good job Canon. Now you need to shoe horn in a more capable CPU (to process the images in-camera), fit the 1DsII sensor into this one or this motordrive into the 1DsII and you may persuade me to part with more cash. By Exploration HSE Advisor | ||||||
